Open Mouth Insert Foot

Sunday, June 27, 2010

I said I was going to do this and I am doing it. Yes I am! I joined the Dallas Galloway Running Group 3 Saturdays ago and this past Sat. was my 4th training with the group. Oh my gosh, I thought about doing this towards the end of last year but it was too late for me to join for any type of training as the team was knee deep in fall/winter marathon training, so the coach told me to wait around until the spring of 2010 and join then. So there you go, I joined 4 weeks ago and here I am today, 4 weeks of running 2 days during the week on my own and Sat. with the group. Woohoo! I had the intentions....intentions I say to train for a half marathon in November, the same one I did last November that nearly killed me. . Well those intentions did not last but about 30 min. into the orientation on June 5th....eeek! The coach asked which marathon I was training for and I was speechless for a split second and then I just blurted out, uhhhhh, Dallas White Rock Marathon, yea I said "marathon", not "half marathon" but marathon....ahhhh, what have I done...doh!

I left that day thinking to myself, "oh Grace, do you think you can do this again, do you really?" My answer was, "YES" I mean, come on, I've done one marathon, several half marathons, several varieties of races, several triathlons, even an Olympic distance traithlon, surely I can do this again. I went home that day with a bit of doubt on the committment I'd just made but at the same time a bit of relief that I was actually gonna do this, even a bit of a smile on my face.

With the Galloway group, prior to beginning the program, we have to do what Jeff Galloway calls the Magic Mile. You run a mile a little bit faster than you normally would run, the coaches time you and then add 2 minutes to that time. That time will be your marathon pace, you're placed within a pace group that have the same or close to that time as well and what you should train with during your marathon training. I was quite proud of the time I ran that mile especially when I hadn't been running on a consistent basis for almost 2 years. They put me in a pace group where I should be able to run/walk at a comfortable training pace for the 26 - 28 weeks of training and this time I truly believe I will finish this marathon a lot stronger than I did the first one.

With that said, I have one more thing to divulge, well I am going to do 2 marathons before the end of 2010 actually. My officially marathon will be the Dallas White Rock Marathon in December, however, I will also be running the San Antonio Rock n Roll Marathon, yup, that's right, "Marathon", not "half marathon"....woohoo! The reason I say this is because, the weekend of the SA RnR marathon is a 24-25 mile training run for my group, sooooooooo, I decided, "eh, why not, I'll just run the full marathon"...yea, that's it! I will be doing 2 marathons this year....oh my gosh, I can't believe I am actually going to do this. YES, I am finally getting back to running and it's all about doing this the right way and without any injuries! Oh don't you fret though, my triathlon days are not over either yet. That half ironman is still on my list...you know...the famous "bucket" list....teehee! But for right now, running is on my mind and it will be as long as I stay healthy.

I decided last week that in order for me to stay positive about my training and my lifestyle motivation I needed to start blogging again. I see so many wonderful blogs on SparkPeople that are so uplifting and I enjoy reading them so much, that I decided it was time to get back to it. I don't have as much time on hands as I used to but I will surely make time for this. This is the most positive thing in my life next to my wonderful life with my husband, so I might as well blog about it as much as I can. I will attempt to blog about my Sat. long runs with a little bit of blogging about the weekly runs that lead up to them and maybe some other things that make me feel positive about this journey. I eventually would like to create my own web blog as well, but I know that'll take some time and right now, I just don't have that.

I look forward to talking with Spark friends that have similar interests and even similar goals as well, but even more so, I will look forward to just talking with everyone about anything and every thing that is going on in your lives!!!

Have a super Spark week my friends and keep a smile on your face and happiness in your heart and do what makes you laugh!

Will be talking to you next week.

Ps. I will continue strength training 2 days a week and Jazzercising 2 days a week.